


The Prophecy of Doom

by Silvertongue90



Category: The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Ancient Egyptian Deities, Ancient Egyptian Literature & Mythology, Comedy, Friendship, Funny, Humor, Magic, POV Original Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 15:08:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30090978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvertongue90/pseuds/Silvertongue90
Summary: When I woke up this morning, I was a regular kid and self-proclaimed closet nerd of all things Egyptian. I was nobody special. That all changed when I met the Kane siblings...





	1. Warning

The story you are about to read is from an audio recording that was sent to me in a slightly banged up lock box with three deep Wolverine style scratches down the side. Unusual symbols that glowed a light blue were etched onto all sides of the box. I took it to an expert to find out what the symbols meant and he reluctantly admitted that he didn't know. He was able to tell me that they were similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs, but it would probably take him years to decipher the meaning.

We tried several ways to pry open the box, even used a chainsaw and it didn't so much as dent the medal.

Later that night, when I took the box home it mysteriously opened by itself. Inside was the recording I mentioned. The more I listened to it the more astonished I became. My first thought was that it was a wonderful story someone sent me; however, I couldn't dismiss the unusual symbols or the fact that the box withstood the force of a chainsaw.

After I finished listening to the recording I did some digging. The Brooklyn Museum did in fact suffer some inexplicable damage in the Egypt Reborn section a few months ago. The footage recovered was fuzzy and I could barely make out what looked like three kids in the room at the time. They were never found and the curator couldn't remember what they looked like.

If the events in the recording are true we may all have cause for alarm. I will let you, the reader, decide what to believe. As for me, I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is an elaborate hoax.


	2. I Plunge To My Death

Part One:

It's bad enough that it's raining. If I had known this morning that I would fall off the side of a mansion and be carried away by a griffin, I would never have gotten out of bed in the first place.

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I suppose introductions would be a good place to begin my story. My name is Jake Daniels and no it's not Jack Daniels. You have no idea how annoying it is to be called that all the time. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and tell my parents that there will be dire consequences if they name their only son Jake Daniels. Like he'll get his head stuck in toilets or have to listen to the endless jokes from dickheads. Okay, maybe we should move on before my blood pressure sky rockets.

So where was I going with all this? Oh, yeah!

I swear everything I am about to tell you is the truth and nothing but the truth. Believe me when I tell you that I know it'll be hard to swallow. I think if someone else were telling me this story I'd be looking for the hidden cameras and make weird faces. Don't look at me like that you know you'd do the same.

I'm gonna ask you for a big favor. Could you at least try to have an open mind while you listen to me tell my story? Everyone should know the danger we're all in and it helps recording all this because believe me it's hard keeping something this huge a secret.

My day started like any other typical day since I moved in with my aunt four weeks ago. She hollered up the stairs, waking me for breakfast and I tripped and stumbled across the slightly messy floor with my eyes half shut. Somehow I made it to the kitchen without breaking any important body parts. My mom used to say it was something I inherited from my dad and she would get this goofy smile on her face. That was back when she thought all his habits were endearing.

Breakfast was the usual clumpy oatmeal that stuck to my teeth and tasted awful no matter how much honey and milk I used. I don't think Aunt Lucinda knew how to make it any other way. Afterwards, I helped clean up the kitchen and then trudged to my room to get dressed. That's where my typical day ended.

Normally, I spent the rest of the time in my room playing on my PS4 and coming out for meals and the occasional fresh air. Today, I wanted to do something different. If I spent another minute in this house pretending my life hadn't been turned upside down, I was going to scream. I tossed on a pair of jeans and an Iron Man t-shirt that smelled clean enough. A quick glance in the mirror showed one side of my dull brown hair had been flattened from sleep. I ran a hand through it until it stood up on end, looking like I had been in a wind storm. Shrugging at my reflection I turned away, snagging my wallet on the way out the door.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I went into the living room where Aunt Lucinda was dusting her already impeccably clean apartment. 

"I'm going out." I announced.

She looked up, startled. "Oh! Do your parents normally let you out by yourself?"

"Yep," I said, inching my way toward the door.

"I don't know, Jake, " she answered doubtfully. "Are you sure—"

"I'll be back before dinner," I said and dashed out into the hall corridor. The elevator was two feet down the hall and had an out of order sign taped against the doors. I sighed and headed for the stairs. My aunt lived on the third floor of the five story apartment complex and I was greatful she didn't live on the fifth floor. I've never liked stairwells. The doors cut off all sound, so the only thing I could hear were my own feet clomping down the stairs and echoing off the walls. I frowned at the creepy sound and hurried down the stairs to get to the lobby.

I breathed easier when I pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of the ebony skinned doorman, Ralph. "Aren't you Ms. Cowell's nephew?" He greeted me with an easy going smile.

"Yes, sir."

"Didn't your aunt say your were a genius or something?" he asked.

"I wouldn't exactly say I'm a genius," I muttered, feeling my face heat up. Definitely not a genius, more like a nerd who remembered weird facts nobody cared about.

Ralph just smiled. "Would you like me to hail a taxi for you?"

"Yes, please."

I followed him outside and watched in amazement as he stepped to the curb and whistled loudly, waving his arm in the air. A taxi slowed down and slid to the curb next to him. I think it's cool how some people have the knack for that. Whenever I try to flag taxis' down they won't stop and the pedestrians give me a strange look.

The doorman opened the taxi door for me. "Where would you like this fine fellow to take you?"

"Um," I racked my brain for anything I knew about Brooklyn, wishing I had read up on the tourist attractions before leaving my room. "Where do you suggest?"

"You like museums? The Brooklyn Museum boasts of one of the largest collection of ancient Egyptian art in the U. S. Anyone who visits Brooklyn should make at least one trip there."

"Okay, I guess I'll go there," I tried to sound nonchalant and maybe even a little bored. On the inside I was jumping up and down, squealing like a fan girl, or rather boy, because squealing like a girl would be weird and uncool. If I had known the Brooklyn museum had an Egyptian section I would have gone there earlier.

Ralph gave me a large smile and I wondered if he could see right through me. I hopped into the taxi and he shut the door behind me, then gave directions to the driver. Ralph winked at me. "Have fun!"

Whenever I sit in a car I have a tendency to zone out. I couldn't tell you where I was or even how to get to where we were going. That used to annoy my dad a lot, but I can't help it. It's like the car lulls me into a trance or something. It'll probably become a problem when I'm old enough to get my license next year. Before I knew it we were pulling along side the museum and driver was telling me the fare. I dug into my wallet and paid him in cash giving him an extra thirty dollar tip, which he promply grinned at before peeling away.

Inside the museum I paid for the entrance fee and when I asked was told that the Egyptian Galleries was on the third floor. I decided to go ahead and start there since I'm a huge fan of Ancient Egypt. I looked at the artifacts, reading their history and slowly made my way to the Egypt Reborn section. I was looking at a statuary that according to the plaque was dated anywhere between 3500 to 3600 B.C.E. when I became aware that I wasn't alone.

Two kids were hanging out farther ahead of me in the section where the Romans became involved in Egypt. Normally, I wouldn't have even noticed them or cared, except these two were different. The boy was a tall African-American and dressed in a white tunic with equally white pajama bottoms. Was that a karate uniform? He had a bag slung over his shoulder and held a boomerang in his hand. I wondered how he had gotten through security with that thing. He looked about my age, maybe a year older.

The girl had caramel-colored hair and dressed similarly to the boy, except while he wore some kind of weird loafers, she had some mean looking combat boots. Oh, and her hair was streaked with purple. She carried an old looking staff in her hand that honestly looked like it belonged in this museum and a backpack over one shoulder.

It was clear that they were fighting about something. Curious to find out what they were arguing about I moved closer and was taken aback by the girl's English accent.

"—such a wimp, Carter!"

"I'm not a wimp!" Carter protested. "Remember what happened last year when we tried to get the first part of the Book of Ra? We should come back tonight armed with spells that will counteract the magic here."

"Or I could break open the display case and we zip out of this fun house through the back door."

"Argh! You are so impossible sometimes!"

"You're no prize—!"

The next thing I knew the display case next to them exploded. I dove to the ground, covering my head to prevent the shards of glass from skewering me. Alarms all around the room blared loudly.

"Sadie! Look what you did."

"Don't blame me! You made it explode too!"

"Never mind, get the scroll!"

I looked up in time to see the girl, Sadie, grab a papyrus from the broken display. I scrambled to my feet. "Hey!" I shouted. "Put that back!"

Carter pushed Sadie away. "Run!"

I glanced around frantically for security, wondering why they hadn't shown up yet and threw myself at Carter, tackling him to the ground. His boomerang clattered to the floor and I picked it up. I threw it at Sadie and it hit her square in the back, knocking her off her feet. I was a little surprised when the boomerang came back to me and I barely caught it in time before it clipped me on the jaw.

Carter pushed me off and tried to run, but I used the boomerang to grab his ankle and tripped him. He sprawled on the ground and I raced after Sadie as she tried to stand up. When she saw me coming she reached for her staff and I had no choice but to kick her hand. Sadie howled and snatched it back to cradle against her chest. I picked up the staff and held it threateningly.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you. Please, just hand over the scroll and I'll tell the guards it was an accident."

She scowled at me. "I don't know who you bloody well think you are and I don't care. Give me my staff back or I'll turn you into a—"

I didn't get to find out what she planned on turning me into. When I saw her eyes flicker behind me, I reacted on instinct and whirled around to face Carter as he tried to sneak up on me. I'll admit I was really confused and wondering when the stupid security people were coming because they should have been there by now. Couldn't they hear the blaring sirens? The only thing I could think of was to keep the two thieves occupied until the authorities came. I swung the staff at him and Carter ducked out of the way. Then I spun on my heel and swung it at Sadie as she attempted to reach for the boomerang I had dropped after tripping up Carter. I kicked it away and it slid behind the display of a sarcophagus.

Unfortunately, that gave the other guy enough time to come up with his own staff. Our staffs clashed and then quicker than thought, Carter swung again and clipped me on the side of the head. Pain temporarily blinded me as I shook my head. When my eyes cleared, Carter was just about to hit me again. I jumped out of the way and the movement jarred my head. The throbbing drum in my head made me mad and I honestly don't know how to explain what happened next.

With a yell, I hit the floor with the butt of my staff and the ground trembled and then my staff turned into a snake right in my hand. I shrieked and threw it on the ground, staring at it wide eyed. What in the world just happened?

Carter's eyes also widened in astonishment or fear, I couldn't tell which since I was too busy freaking out about the whole thing. The snake crawling toward me was the last thing I saw before something struck me in the back of the head.

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I came to was that someone was sniffing loudly right next to me. I tried to open my eyes to see who was making that noise when a sharp pain jabbed the back of my head and I groaned. It felt like someone had taken a sledge hammer to my skull.

The snuffling stopped.

I couldn't remember what happened or why my head hurt so much. I must have tripped over something on my way to eat breakfast this morning. "Aunt Lucinda?" I moaned.

With great effort, I willed my eyes open and came face to face with an ugly baboon. I screamed and flung the animal off me. The baboon caught the side of the bed before he could fall and swung himself back up. "Agh!"

I stared at it in astonishment. For some reason I had understood what he'd said. "Stupid (rude word)! I will flatten you with a basketball."

My eyes blinked slowly and a choked sound came out of my mouth. I was beginning to suspect I had finally cracked.

"That's Khufu," said a familiar voice. "He doesn't like strangers, but he'll warm up to you eventually."

I turned to see the two kids from the museum had entered the room and everything that happened flooded back to me. "You!" I tried to sit up and winced as a wave of dizziness washed over me. "What did you do to me?"

"I hit you on the head," the girl, Sadie, I believe was her name, gave me a smug grin.

The boy, Carter, threw her a look. "We're sorry about that. We couldn't just leave you so we brought you here to the Twenty-first Nome."

"The what gnome? You know what, I don't want to know." I threw the covers off me and slid over the side of the bed away from the baboon. "I'm going home and reporting you two to the police." Next thing I knew something had thrown me back onto the bed and a pressing weight sat on my chest. I stared into the scary fangs of the baboon and gulped.

"Get this thing off me!"

"Khufu, I think we can handle this," said Carter.

Khufu the baboon continued to stare me down. The only thing I could think about was how sharp his teeth looked.

"He won't eat you," Sadie told me as if she had read my mind. "He only eats things that end with O." Suddenly her face turned green. "Your name doesn't end with an O does it?"

"Khufu, get off him!" Carter said in exasperation.

With an "Agh!" he reluctantly did as he was told. Again, I understood what he said and that fact was just plain scary. "Why can I understand him?" my voice was on the edge of hysteria as I jumped off the bed and began pacing the floor.

Carter and Sadie looked at each other. "You know what Khufu is saying?" Sadie looked like her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

There was only one thing that made sense to me. "I'm dreaming aren't I? I slipped and fell in the museum and hit my head or worse I haven't even gotten up yet and I'll have to endure Aunt Lucinda's clumpy oatmeal again!"

"Clumpy oatmeal?" Carter looked puzzled.

"That's my Gran's specialty," Sadie replied knowingly. "It tastes even worse than her biscuits."

I ignored both of them, focusing instead on controlling my breathing. My head started feeling light headed and for a moment I thought I was going to pass out.

"I think he's hyperventilating," said a distant voice.

A sharp slap to my cheek brought me back and I scowled at the girl as she proudly examined her handiwork. "Put you head between your legs," she ordered.

I did as I was told and after a few moments I stopped gasping for air and felt slightly better.

"You hungry?" she asked. "I'm starved, lets go get something to eat and we'll try to explain everything to you."

In something of a daze I followed them around the house, catching glimpses of artifacts that looked suspiciously Egyptian. Maybe they were art thieves. Then we came to a room that made my jaw drop.

"This is the Great Room," Sadie announced, like she was a tourist guide at a museum. It really was a Great Room. The ceiling was at least four stories high and held up with pillars that had those Egyptian hieroglyphs decorating them. There was a fireplace and TV surrounded by comfortable looking leather chairs and at the far end of the room, double doors with the Eye of Horus stamped on it. What really caught my attention though was the thirty foot tall statue. It was the figure of a human body with an ibis head. He held a scribe stylus in one hand and an open scroll in the other.

"Thoth," I breathed. "The Egyptian god of knowledge and wisdom."

Carter and Sadie gave each other a look again. "You know about Egyptian mythology?" the boy said.

"Yeah," I replied absentmindedly. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I know this is going to sound crazy, but it felt like the statue was calling to me. There was an itch in the back of my head that I couldn't scratch. Kind of like a tingling feeling of something I should know and yet every time I got close it would slip from my grasp.

Sadie snorted. "You don't look like the type of guy who would care about dusty old statues."

That pulled me out of my reverie. Right, I was supposed to pretend I didn't like this kind of stuff. "I don't."

"Sure you don't. You were looking at that statue like Carter looks at Zia."

"Hey! I could say the same thing about Walt or Anubis."

"Oh please! Ancient history. Let's get some food before our guest faints again."

"I didn't faint!" I shouted indignantly. "I just got a little dizzy." I decided right then and there that I didn't like Sadie very much.

With one last look at the statue of Thoth, I followed them out to the veranda where a table next to a fountain had heaps of food already spread out. My eyes immediately spotted the ham and dill sandwiches and my mouth started watering. I hadn't had a decent sandwich since I left California because my aunt didn't believe in feeding healthy boys junk food.

I sat down without waiting for them and piled my plate high with sandwiches, chips, some veggies, and blocks of cheese. When I bit into my sandwich, my eyes rolled into the back of my head and my tongue felt like it was going to explode from overload. Wow, it felt great to taste real food again!

"Hungry much?" Sadie muttered under her breath. "When was the last time you ate?"

I glanced down at my plate sheepishly. "This morning."

"Well, that would explain it," Carter nodded. "You've been sleeping all afternoon." Sadie had the decency to look a little contrite.

"What?" I glanced at the sky and was startled to realize that it was evening, probably close to dinner time. How had I not noticed the time? Storm clouds began to gather overhead and I knew I would have leave now if I wanted to beat the storm. "I have to go! My aunt will be going crazy wondering where I am."

"No! You can't go yet." Carter stood up awkwardly and I wondered if he had intended to push me back in my seat.

"Look, if this is about the museum, I won't say a word. It's none of my business whether or not you steal priceless artifacts."

"We don't steal—okay, maybe we stole the scroll, but we had to!" Sadie protested.

"Please sit down," Carter said. "Don't you want to know how you made the staff turn into a snake?"

Up until now I had forgotten all about the snake incident, but now that I was reminded of the strange occurence I realized that I did want to know how that happened. Reluctantly, I sat down and reached for a chip. "Make it quick. I really do have to get home before my aunt calls the cops."

For a moment neither of them said anything. They seemed to be having a silent conversation among themselves and I could almost understand what they were saying.

'You tell him.'

'No, you.'

'You're the one that knocked him out.'

'Well, you're the one who wouldn't let me break the display in the first place.'

"Guys, either you talk or I walk."

Sadie glared at Carter one last time and then turned to me. "All right. The reason why the staff turned into a snake is because you're a magician."

I stared at both of them waiting for the punch line; they looked serious. A hysterical laugh escaped me. "Excuse me? This is a joke right? Like the Harry Potter books. You're a wizard, Harry," I recited and again waited for them to start laughing and tell me they were just messing with me.

Hesitantly, Carter spoke this time. "We're magicians to the House of Life, following the paths of the Egyptian gods. We—"

"You two are crazy," I interrupted. "The gods are a myth."

"The way our Uncle Amos explained it," began Carter. "Is that a legacy that powerful doesn't simply cease to exist. In Ancient Egyptian times, the gods were very real, but when Egypt fell they were locked up by the House of Life to prevent the gods from creating disaster and chaos. Our mother, who was a Diviner, had a vision that the demon, Apophis would break from his prison and swallow the sun. Unless," here Carter hesitated before going on. "Unless, she and our dad released the gods from their imprisonment so that magicians and gods could relearn how to work together again to prevent chaos from rising. Our mom died to prevent that from happening."

Sadie cut in. "To make a long story short we saved the world blah, blah, blah, and have been teaching others to follow the path of the gods ever since. How we missed you I don't know. We should have found all the magicians in Brooklyn."

"I'm not from Brooklyn." I stood, this time determined to leave. "You two seem nice, but you clearly have a few loose screws. If I were you I would check myself into the nearest mental institution and fast."

I headed for the door quickly to escape this looney bin when something massive suddenly reared out of the water in the fountain. I froze when I saw it was an enormous albino crocodile. Its red eyes stared at me as if daring me to take one more step toward the door.

"That's Philip of Macedonia," Sadie told me. "He'll love you forever if you feed him bacon."

I gulped nervously. "Where did you steal him from? A zoo?

"We didn't steal him. He's like a guardian or lucky charm for the Twenty-first Nome."

"He's also technically not a real crocodile," Carter added. He seemed real enough to me and why the heck did they keep mentioning gnomes? Slowly, I backed toward the door keeping my eyes on the crocodile.

"Sadie, show him," Carter told her quietly.

She grinned. "With pleasure." Picking up her plate she threw it at my head. Before I could duck out of the way, she held out her hand and shouted, "Ha-di!" For a moment, blue hieroglyphs burned the air around her hand and then the plate exploded in mid air. A piece grazed my forehead as I dived out of the way. I felt the blood running down my face before the sharp pain set in. "ARE YOU CRAZY!" I shouted.

"Sadie!"

"Oops." She didn't look all that sorry.

I wiped the blood away with my shirt, glaring daggers at her. "What was that?"

"That was the Divine word for destroy."

I pushed myself to my feet. "Yeah, whatever. I've seen better magic tricks then that."

"Oh man, I didn't want to have to do this," Carter moaned to himself.

Before I could ask what he was talking about he started glowing. A blue shimmer covered him, lifting him off his feet as some sort of avatar grew until I was staring at a twenty foot glowing Egyptian warrior with a falcon head. Horus, my nerdy side whispered to me.

I could see Carter inside the avatar and he waved at me. The warrior copied his movement and then he took a step toward me. I hit the doors running. I could hear them calling for me to come back, but there was no way I was going back to that freak show. As I came closer to where a porch or something should be I realized that I was looking down at a warehouse.

And did I mention it started pouring buckets? It was like the goddess of rain, Tefnut wanted to exact her vengeance on me for not believing in her. I tried to stop. My foot hit a wet patch and I slid across the floor toward the edge. I couldn't get air in my lungs to scream even though I really wanted to and I couldn't catch hold of anything to stop my descent to certain death.

In a last desperate attempt as I fell over the edge, I tried to snag the ledge. It broke off in my hand and I watched with growing horror as the East River rushed up to meet me.


End file.
